Rhea sighed a martyred sigh. She knew my mulish expression and tone very well. “Just… be careful, okay? This is pretty big news.”
Adam cleared his throat and leaned in toward the screen. “You didn’t… uh… I mean, this was a shock for you, too, right?”
Rhea tilted her head. “What? Are you asking if I knew he was alive all this time?” She looked like he’d slapped her. “Of course not. Adam, how could you think that?”
Adam’s cheeks went red. “Look, I’m sorry, but someone had to know he wasn’t dead.”
“What about Orpheus?” the Queen said. “Weren’t he and Tristan good friends back in the day?”
She had a point. If anyone would have known about Tristan being alive, it would have been Rhea’s predecessor, who’d run the mage race following Tristan’s mother. He and my father were apparently both members of the Pythian Guards, a special-ops unit under the Hekate Council.
The mention of Orpheus’s name made Rhea blanch. She and the former High Councilman had been good friends—and maybe more, according to my theory. The implication that he’d hidden a secret this huge made Rhea’s voice tremble with rage. “You all listen to me right now. Orpheus would not have hidden this from us. He loved Maisie and respected Sabina too much to hide something this huge.”
“Unless he had a good reason for wanting us to continue believing Tristan was dead,” I said.
Rhea slashed a hand through the air. “Regardless, it doesn’t matter now. Orpheus is dead. I say you focus on demanding answers from the one who is alive—Tristan.”
I sighed deeply. “We’ll leap off that bridge when we come to it.”
The Queen was ready to move on. “Is that all you have to report?” Clearly Rhea hadn’t had a chance to fill the Queen in on the Persephone situation yet.
“No, actually,” I said. “We had a bit of a surprise turn up. You’ll never guess who’s in Rome.” Maeve looked totally uninterested in playing the guessing game. “Persephone.”
That got her attention. “You’re certain?” the Queen snapped.
“Yes. I met with her tonight at the home of the Donna of Italy, Chiara Rossi.”
“When is she returning stateside?” Rhea asked.
“If it’s up to her, never,” I said. “She officially abdicated her right to rule the Lilim to me.”
The Queen muttered an unladylike curse. Then she snapped at someone off camera. When she was finished, she looked at us and said, “My people are getting Slade and Alexis on the line.”
“Good idea,” Rhea said.
“Why?” I asked.
“There’s some trouble in Los Angeles,” Rhea explained. “The Undercouncil has started losing control of the California vamps. Some turf wars have started now that word’s spread the Despina’s dead and Persephone is missing.”
“Turf wars?” Giguhl asked. “That doesn’t sound good.”
The Queen nodded. “Some ambitious local vamps are making noises about staging a coup against the Undercouncil. We sent Alexis and Slade to Los Angeles to try to convince them to crack down.”
Alexis Vega had been Tanith’s personal guard before the Despina was killed, and Slade Corbin was the leader of New York’s vampires. They’d been the ones originally charged with locating Persephone.
“Unless we can convince Persephone to get back and take control, things are only going to get worse,” Rhea concluded.
I pulled Persephone’s crown from the pocket of my jacket. “Well, I’m afraid she’s pretty serious. She gave me this and said to hand it over to the next leader.”
Now it was Rhea’s turn to curse. Before she could elaborate, though, the screen flickered and a new window popped up. Alexis and Slade blinked blearily at the camera. Since they were in California, it was only just dusk and they’d probably just woken up.
“Well, well, it’s a party,” Slade said in a droll tone. “What’s the occasion?”
Beside me, I felt Adam tense. Not surprising given my past intimate history with Slade.
“Hey, Slade!” Giguhl said. He’d always had a kind of hero worship thing going for Slade. “Vampinatrix,” he said in a more sullen tone to Alexis.
“Guys, we’ve had a development in Rome,” I said, getting down to business. “Persephone’s here and she’s refusing to return to take over the vamps.”
“Shit!” Alexis snapped. “You need us to come drag her back?”
“Actually,” Rhea said, “I think we need to approach this situation with a lighter touch. If we barge in and force her to return, we won’t be doing the peace progress any favors.”
“Besides,” the Queen said, “nothing would stop her from leaving again. No, we need to convince her it’s in her best interest to return.”
I raised my hands. “How?”
Rhea sighed. “How did you leave it with her?”
“Not well, I’m afraid. I told her about Cain being a real threat here and she decided to leave the city. She wouldn’t tell me where she planned on going.”
“Has she left already?” the Queen asked, her tone urgent.
I shook my head. “No. She won’t be able to rally her resources and get out of town before tomorrow dusk earliest.”
“So go back over there and talk some sense into her!” Queen Maeve said.
“It’s not that easy,” Adam said. “It’s almost dawn here. And tomorrow night we have our meeting with Tristan, which I think you’ll agree is the priority.”
The Queen sighed. “You’re correct.”
“Sabina and her crew need to focus on the Tristan situation,” Rhea said. “Alexis and Slade, you need to get to Rome ASAP to take point with Persephone.”
Adam stiffened next to me. Slade’s eyes flicked toward me through the screen. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but my stomach sank with dread.
“Um, actually,” Slade said, “if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to stay in Los Angeles.”
Alexis swiveled her head and stared at Slade with openmouthed shock.
“Why?” the Queen snapped.
“Yeah, why?” Alexis demanded.
Slade shifted and switched into persuader mode. “Someone needs to stay and make sure the Undercouncil doesn’t do anything stupid. Besides, Alexis knows the Domina the best. My presence might only put her on edge. Especially since she’d remember me as the assassin who screwed over the Dominae and went to work with the Hekate Council in New York.”
As far as excuses went, they weren’t half bad. But I knew it wasn’t Slade’s entire reason for bowing out. Slade and I had a somewhat… involved past. That past had caught up with me a few weeks earlier when Adam found out I’d lied about sleeping with Slade. Adam and I had worked through most of the issues that brought up, but I had been worried Slade’s arrival in the middle of our mission would only complicate matters. Judging from his quick work at bowing out of the mission, it appeared Slade shared those concerns.
Rhea sighed. “Alexis, do you think you can handle Persephone alone?”
The vampire jerked her gaze away from Slade. Rhea’s question put her in a difficult situation. If she said she couldn’t handle it alone, she’d look weak. But I could tell she was pissed at Slade for bowing out.
“Hold on,” she said. With a hand, she covered the computer’s mic, but she forgot to minimize the camera. So we all watched her and Slade argue for a few minutes. Actually, from the looks of things, Alexis was doing all the yelling. Slade talked calmly and rationally, no doubt using his charm to get her to see reason. Finally, she let out a frustrated sigh and threw up her hands.
“Fine!” she shouted.
I frowned at the screen. Something told me their fight wasn’t just about her not wanting to face Persephone alone. In fact, if I had to guess, Alexis was most pissed about having to face me alone. After all, there was no love lost between us after we’d each mistakenly accused the other of murder before we realized my sister was the culprit.
Rhea cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably. “So does that mean, yes, you’re fine handling Persephone alone?”
Alexis crossed her arms and sighed. “Yes, I can handle Persephone alone.”
The sound of angry keyboard clicking came out of the laptop’s speakers. “I’m checking flights, and the earliest I can get to Rome is five p.m. local time.”
“Crap,” Rhea said. “I forgot you guys can’t travel magically.”
“The sun’s an issue, too,” I said. “That’s cutting it close. Sundown here is around five-thirty. By the time you reached Chiara’s villa, Persephone will be gone.”
Erron leaned between Adam and me. “Wait. How about I just flash there and bring her back?”
Slade squinted at the screen. “Sorry, but who are you?”
I sat up straighter, realizing I hadn’t made the introductions. “Slade, Alexis, this is Erron Zorn. He’s a mage friend from New Orleans.”
“What’s up?” Erron nodded a greeting.
Alexis crossed her arms. “Um, I’m not so sure about traveling magically.”
“Ah, it’ll be fine,” Giguhl said. “You might hurl, but it sure beats taking the red eye.”
“Whatever,” Alexis said.
“Just tell me where you are and I can be there in a couple minutes,” Erron said.
While Alexis filled Erron in on their location, I took a deep breath and glanced at Adam. His jaw was clenched and he stared at Slade through the screen like he wanted to throttle the dude. Looked like it was a good move on Slade’s part to decline joining our little party.
“Now that the travel arrangements have been sorted out, I’ll sign off,” the Queen said. “But, Sabina?”